Keep Walking and Never Look Back
by Soulless Light
Summary: You know what hurt me the most, Naruto? That you, of all people, would stab me in the back like you did. I thought I could trust you…I guess I was wrong." After that, she started to walk away. She kept walking and never looked back.


I don't own Naruto

_

_

_

Beads of early morning sunlight streamed in through red curtains, waking up the pink haired genin that was sleeping soundly in her thick fuchsia comforter. "Ahh…," letting out a groan, Sakura reliantly rose from her bed and made her way to the bathroom that was connected to her medium sized bedroom. As she stepped into the bathroom and began stripping for her shower only one coherent thought slipped into her mind, _'Time for another day of training.'_

After finishing her shower and brushing her teeth, Sakura got dressed in her red training dress, also tying her headband in her choppy pink hair, and attaching her weapon pouches in all the appropriate places on her body.

Once reaching the kitchen, Sakura noticed a note from her parents lying lazily on the dining room table. Snatching up the note, Sakura quickly scanned her eyes over it.

_Dear Sakura,_

_Your father and I have gone to discuss some matters with the Hokage._

_-Mom_

Shrugging it off for now, she busied herself with getting the milk, cereal, bowl, and spoon she needed for her breakfast. Part way through her breakfast, Sakura could not help but let her previously occupied thoughts stray to the letter her parents had left for her. _'What matters do they possible have to discuss with the Hokage? I know for a fact that they have not had a mission in the past month. So what do they have to possible discuss?' _

Dismissing the pesky thought, Sakura hurried and finished up her cereal and dropped the empty bowl into the sink before heading to the door and slipping on her bright blue ninja sandals.

Shutting and locking the door, she dropped her house key into her weapon pouch on the back of her left hip. Charging her feet with charka, Sakura rocketed onto the nearest roof and began running to the training field team seven meet up at practically every day.

_

_

_

Arriving at the training field, Sakura noticed that Sasuke had sat himself atop the log that Naruto was tied to after they thought the failed Kakashi's bell test and would not become genin. Ignoring him, Sakura went to sit under a shady tree and just relax before their blonde loud-mouthed teammate got here.

She had just begun to unwind a little when she felt Sasuke's unnerving gaze settle upon her form. If she still had her fan girl crush on him she would have found this endearing, but now, after her crush on him long since disappeared, she just found his gaze unnerving and creepy in some way.

"What?" she snapped when the staring has finally gotten on her last nerve.

Averting his eyes elsewhere, he replied with his usual icy monotone voice, "Nothing."

Before she had the chance to retort a "SASUKE-TEME!" was heard from far away, and you could see a blonde blur speeding down the road towards Sakura and Sasuke.

Upon reaching his two teammates Naruto got up in Sasuke's face and, just to annoy him, yelled at him right in his face, "SASUKE-TEME!"

"Shut it dobe, before I have to make you," Sasuke coolly replied as he pushed a fist into Naruto's whiskered face.

After recovering from the blow, Naruto continued to shot at him louder than before. "WHY DON'T YOU TRY TO MAKE ME?" Naruto yelled, nursing his bruised up cheek.

'_Here they go again,' _Sakura thought to herself as she watched their fight from the sidelines, _'fighting and forgetting that I am here. That seems to be happing a lot lately. Oh well, I am not going to ruin their fun. That is what Kakashi-sensei is here for.'_

She sat there silently and listened to her male teammates verbally harass each other with back and forth 'dobe' and 'temes' being exchanged being the only thing the two could think of to insult each other with. With a gray poof of smoke Kakashi arrived, porn book in hand. "Yo," he lazily greeted his students.

A moment of silence

"You're late, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto spoke up, pointing a finger at the silver haired man.

A sigh escaped from Kakashi masked lips. "I know, Naruto. Anyway, let's start training. Naruto and Sasuke you will be fighting me."

Sakura decided that this would be the perfect time to speak after twenty-five minutes of silence, "Kakashi-sensei, if you're fighting Sasuke-kun and Naruto; then whom will I fight?"

"Oh, Sakura, I thought you weren't here." He even had the gall to sound surprised that Sakura would even show up for training.

Eye twitching, Sakura asked, "Where do you think I would be, Kakashi-sensei?" a layer of suspicion, and maybe hurt, inking her words.

"I don't know." Kakashi shrugged.

"Ah huh and why did you think I wasn't here exactly?" Sakura asked, rising a perfectly slim pink eyebrow.

"Oh…um…because you were quite for so long," he straggled to think of something to say that would justify his reason for not realizing that Sakura was here. "Anyway, that doesn't matter right now. You can go do some solo training in the forest, okay?" he questioned, shifting his eyes from Sakura to the forest twice.

"Fine," she replied. Brushing herself off, Sakura stood and stomped her way into the forest.

_

_

_

Twirling gracefully on her heel, she started to punch the tree that was closets to her. After sometime, her knuckles split and started to bleed a rich crimson color; staining the peachy skin of her palms.

"Why does he always want to train them instead of me? Am I that unimportant that he doesn't even bother to put a speck of effort into my training?" Sakura yelled, sure that her teammates wouldn't here her since she was all the way in the middle of the forest and they were at the edge of it. "I'll show them!" Without knowing it, Sakura forced her charka into her fists and, with a sickening crack the tree she was aiming at gave way and feel backwards.

"What did I just do?" Staring down, she noticed that her knuckles were now bleeding even more. Shrugging, she turned and began walking out of the forest from the way she had came having figured that Sasuke, Kakashi, and Naruto had finished their spar.

As she walked Sakura let her eyes slip to her bloody covered and still bleeding knuckles. _'Maybe they will notice my bleeding knuckles and finally figure out just how hard I try to become strong.' _Stopping when she reached the bridge, she scanned over Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke; the two latter ones having gotten a few cuts and bruises here and there, but nothing major.

"You guys sure had a rough spare, huh?" Sakura found herself asking nonchalantly, even though the pain from her knuckles was soaring like electricity through her body.

"Yeah, we did. I think you guys can become chuninn by next year at the rate your skills have been improving," Kakashi mentioned as he patted Sasuke and Naruto with his half gloved hands.

'_You mean Sasuke and Naruto can become chuninn by next year, don't you Kakashi-sensei?'_ Sakura thought resentfully, but, nonetheless, put a smile on her face in order to keep her joyful façade up and commented, "That's great! I think Naruto, Sasuke, and I can become chuninn by next year to!"

Making sure her smile didn't lessen, she took one of her bloody knuckles and used it to brush a pink strand of hair out of her line of vision, secretly hoping that one of them would take notice of her injured hand and come to her aid. No one noticed. Not even Naruto did! Instead, Naruto started to talk.

"Hey, teme, want to go get some ramen with me?"

"Hn, sure, dobe, why not."

"How about you, Kakashi-sensei, are you going to come with us?"

"No, Naruto. Not this time, I have to go discuss something with the other sensei. Remember, there isn't any training tomorrow." Before departing in a cloud of smoke, he winked at Naruto and Sasuke like all three knew something that Sakura did not.

Naruto and Sasuke left next without even throwing a casual goodbye Sakura's way. It was like she wasn't even there.

_

_

_

Once arriving home, Sakura kicked off her shoes and headed towards the kitchen after feeling her mother and father's charka coming from the kitchen.

"Hi, mom and dad," Sakura greeted.

"Sakura, take a seat," her father ordered.

"Okay." Pulling out the third chair Sakura sat in it. "Why, dad?" she inquired.

"Because we need to talk to you," he told her.

"Sakura," her father started to say, but her mother cut him off.

"Sakura, do you know why we went to speak to Lady Hokage-sama today?"

"No. I thought you needed to talk to her about a mission or something like that." She shrugged.

"Sakura…" Sakura's mother started to say. Was that sadness in her voice?

"We have chosen to disown you," her father finished when her mother couldn't.

"What? Why?" she asked. There was a moment of shock before she pushed her chair back in order to stand and slammed her hands, caked over with blood, roughly on the table.

"Because you are a disgrace to the clan and this family!" her father yelled over her.

"What?" Sinking back into her chair in depression, her brain worked tirelessly to process the news that had just been given to her.

"I said-,"

"I know what you said!" The velocity of her voice increased again as she stood from her chair again. "What about my stuff with the clan symbol in-crested on it?"

"That has been taken care of," her father informed her.

"Well, where exactly am I supposed to live know? A box?" she smartly retorted, all the respect for her parents disappearing without a shred left behind.

"That is why we talked to Lady Hokage. She has agreed to house you in an apartment close to your training grounds. Your stuff has already been moved there. But, there is still some stuff that we were not sure you would want to throw out or keep. So you may go up there and check if you need them or not."

"Fine," Sakura replied; dashing out of the kitchen she made her way to her bedroom on the second floor, taking the short flight of stairs two at a time.

When she got there, her former room was void of most of the stuff she had owned. All that was left was a box of items on the barren of sheets and mattress bed. Power walking her way to the plan brown cardboard box; she didn't bother to take a glance inside; she simply discard her dress, left in only her bike shorts and black tank top, picked up the box and made her way out the window and onto a roof.

There really was no need telling her parents she was leaving. They wouldn't even care.

_

_

_

Jumping off a random roof, she landed in front of a row of apartments commonly known to house shinobi and kunoichi alike and dug through the box and came back with a slip of paper trapped in-between her middle and index fingers. "Apartment number 204," she read off quietly, picking up her box she ventured out to find her new home.

_

_

_

After checking out what the apartment had to offer, which was nothing much just the basics, she sat in her new room thinking. _'I should go see Naruto; he'll know how to cheer me up.'_ Shifting her leaf green gaze to the alarm clock that she had hocked up a few minutes ago, she read the time. _'Yeah, he will still be there scuffing up ramen like his life depends on it.'_ Getting up, she hopped out her window and on to the street, heading to where she was positive Naruto would be.

_

_

_

As Sakura approached the ramen bar, she could hear Ino's unmistakable voice and made quick work of masking her charka from her and any other person she was with.

"Sakura is bringing us down," Ino whined. "Obviously, she is the weakest out of all of us."

Sakura couldn't believe this! Her supposed best friend was trashing her skills as a ninja!

"I agree with Ino. We all have a family justu or signature technique, while she has none," Shikamaru. It was defiantly Shikamaru.

"I could beat her in a running contest, which shows you how slow she is," Choji.

So it wasn't only Ino, but her teammates to!

"She has the lowest stamina, and can hardly keep up with us on missions," Kiba.

And now Kiba was bashing her to!

"We know Kiba. She's supposed to be the best at genjustu out of all of us, but Naruto is better at it then she is," Shino

Him to! She didn't even speak with him all that much!

"S-Shino is right. N-not to insult her o-or anything, but at l-least I have the B-Bygukan, she has n-no special t-talent what s-so ever." Defiantly Hinata from all the stuttering lased into the sentence.

Even the shy Hinata was taking a swing at Sakura!

"Hn, I know, she is always holding Naruto and me back from our full potential because she can't even manage to protect herself for one second," Sasuke.

Okay, Sakura would admit that she kind of saw that one coming from Sasuke.

'_Naruto, if you're in there, you'll stop them from trashing me farther, right? Please, Naruto,'_ Sakura pleaded in her mind.

The slurping of noodles did indeed conform that Naruto was in there with the others. One last slurp was heard before the sound of an empty bowl being set down on a counter was heard. "For once, I have to agree with Sasuke-teme. If we didn't have to protect Sakura all the time, then we would be able to get stronger without her in the way."

That was all it took, and the ex-Haruno girl was running back to her apartment in blind anger and sadness.

_

_

_

SLAM!

The door was almost knocked off of its hinges as a very disheartened Sakura slammed it behind her. "How could they!" Tears fell from her enchanting green orbs as she grabbed a hold of her Team Seven picture that rested at the table next to the door. "How could they! I trusted them!" She hurdled the picture frame across the room, where it hit the wall and the glass smashed into thousands of tiny fragments.

"I don't need you guys anymore! I can get strong on my own!" she yelled at the now tattered team photo. As she stomped into her room only one word came to mind.

Payback

Oh, yes, they were going to get it very soon.

_

_

_

She woke up the next morning and got dressed to go to the training field. She knew Kakashi had told them they had no training today, but she just had a feeling.

Pulling on a wicked smile, Sakura rocketed out the window and to the training grounds.

_

_

_

Looks like that feeling was right after all because when she got their all the teams that made up the rookie nine and their sensei were there, including Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke.

"Hey!" Sakura yelled as she reached the bridge. Everyone froze and looked towards Sakura. She wasn't supposed to be here!

"Sakura, what are you doing here?" Shock was evident in Naruto's words.

"Same goes to you and Sasuke, Naruto. Kakashi said there was no training today, remember? Or did you and him just covalently forget?" she asked, malice dripping from every word that came out of her mouth.

"We were just getting ready to…um…have a picnic!" Ino answered the question intended for Naruto nervously.

"Cut the bullshit, Ino. I know everything."

"How?" she questioned.

"Well, I heard you guys talking, or should I say trashing me, at the ramen bar. As for the secret training sessions, I just found out about that now."

Kakashi stepped in. "Sakura, that is a ridicules accusation. They would never talk about a comrade in that manner."

"Oh, really, Hatake, you want me to repeat everything they said? I remember it all," Sakura challenged.

Everyone gasped and yelled, "NO!"

"Sakura," Kakashi barked, "I am your elder and sensei and you will call me Kakashi-sensei and treat me with the proper respect!"

"I will do no such thing. I am not going to call you my sensei when you never bothered to teach me anything because you were too busy teaching Naruto and Sasuke stuff they could use on the battle field. And I am not treating you with respect because you never bothered to show me any respect back."

There was another round of group gasps.

Pivoting on her heel, she was prepared to leave when Naruto voice stopped her.

"Sakura, wait!" he cried disparately.

Not bothering to turn around, she replied, "No, Naruto! I won't wait any longer for any of you to notice my hard work! What was the point, if you all were going to critics my skills? Let me tell you, there was no point!" she yelled in frustration, but calmed down a bit. "You know what hurt me the most, Naruto? That you, of all people, would stab me in the back like you did. I thought I could trust you…I guess I was wrong." After that, she started to walk away.

That was the day Sakura left the rookie nine never to return to it again.

That was also the day she learned to be strong both physically and mentally.

Lastly that was the day she kept walking and never looked back.

_

_

_

Here was my re-write of Keep Walking and Never Look Back. Hope you enjoyed and please review.


End file.
